Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she will step down as Alaska’s chief executive by the end of the month. She will not seek election to a second gubernatorial term in 2010.

I was as surprised as everyone else to hear about this.  You have to wonder why in the world someone so popular would choose to do this right now.  You can’t help but think that maybe she intends to begin raising money to run for president on 2012.

Time will tell whether or not this move was a smart one.  I have a feeling that even though she is not going to be governor of Alasksa anymore, we will still be hearing plenty from her in the years to come.